“St. Moritz and the Engadin are and will remain expensive” Engadiner Post from 27.12.2022

The villa on the Suvretta slope, the condominium on Via Tinus or the old Engadine house in the Dimlej area: even those who could afford such a property will hardly be able to buy it. The reason: such properties are practically no longer coming onto the market. What was still available was sold in the last two years. And: “Anyone who owns a larger and more expensive property sees no reason to sell it. The market has completely dried up.” Franco Giovanoli, head of the St. Moritz office of Ginesta Immobilien, said this at a recent event.

Normalization of demand

However, a decline in Real Estate demand is also evident in the Upper Engadine. “After the pandemic, this was to be expected in the medium term; what’s happening now is a return to normalcy at a healthy level of demand.” In his sales work, Giovanoli notes that those currently looking for a property are doing so with a specific goal in mind, and deals are closing quickly. “Overall, though, the real estate market in the region will remain strong,” Giovanoli concluded. In other words, excess demand persists, and transaction prices are likely to remain high in the coming months.  
and continue to rise slightly. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, property prices in the Upper Engadin have risen by around 20 to 40 percent, depending on the municipality.  

There are hardly any upper limits

If the Upper Engadine remains the measure of all things in terms of real estate demand throughout the canton, then this also applies to St. Moritz in particular. The 2023 market report recently enclosed with this newspaper shows that the highest prices in the canton, and indeed in the whole of German-speaking Switzerland, are paid here. Specifically: upscale condominiums cost up to 25,000 francs per square meter of living space, luxury properties cost more than 30,000 francs and in the preferred residential areas, 55,000 francs are sometimes paid. One of the most popular villa areas in the whole of Switzerland is the Suvretta slope. If you want to buy a luxurious property here, you can expect to pay 75,000 francs per square meter, assuming you find what you are looking for. The prices in St. Moritz Bad and Champfèr are somewhat more moderate at around 20,000 francs for an upmarket standard. The level is similar in the municipalities around St. Moritz, while prices in the Plaiv range between 12,000 and 17,000 francs.

More expensive financing

Guest speaker Andrea Ammann from Wüest Partner in Zurich spoke about the general environment for the Swiss real estate market
. The turnaround in interest rates was one of the issues that occupied us at the end of the year. This is very clear. While the SNB’s key interest rates were still at minus 0.75 percent a year ago, they have since climbed to plus one percent. Because mortgage rates have also risen accordingly, buyers today are faced with a completely different financing environment. “With such a sharp rise in interest rates, there should actually be a price collapse on the real estate market. Surprisingly, however, prices have remained stable with slightly lower demand,” said Ammann.

Low construction activity

He sees various reasons for this. Firstly, the Swiss labor market is still dynamic. There are many vacancies that increasingly need to be filled by foreign workers, which increases the demand for housing. Secondly, although the economic outlook is somewhat subdued, the level of inflation in Switzerland is still low compared to other countries, which is supporting the real estate market. And finally, new construction activity has been declining for several years, meaning that too few new apartments
are coming onto the market to meet the high demand.

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Stable high demand meets a dried-up market: real estate in the Engadin remains expensive, with St. Moritz occupying the top spot in the canton. This is unlikely to change any time soon.